D&D 5E Convince me that the Ranger is a necessary Class.

[occam]

1 - Robin Hood is not the paragon of the Ranger. The Rangers of Dunedin and Aragorn are.

Does Dunedin, NZ (or maybe Dunedin, FL?) have Rangers? That sounds pretty cool!

 

[bedir than]

LOTR Aragorn is not a Ranger.

I'm looking at the original Ranger as published in The Strategic Review issue 2, where it first appeared.

It's is quite obviously inspired by the character who went by the very name "Ranger"

Expert at tracking, only allowed the gear that can be carried, always Lawful, difficult to surprise, use of clairvoyance devices, gains hobbits as followers.

 

[Minigiant]

can I ask why you think the Ranger needs magic? as it is half the spells on the ranger list could be done with a better Skill system or as basic class abilities (Hunters Mark!)

Rangers don't need spells if skills had defined reliable effects.

But there's never been a majority of D&D fans who would agree to that.

 

[CreamCloud0]

one of the big conceptual cornerstones of the ranger that i think people often overlook is how much of a survivalist they are, sure they're often recognised as 'explorers' but that's not quite the same thing, a rogue might be more skillful and a fighter tougher but drop a rogue or a fighter into the wild with nothing but the clothes on their back and they might survive but not in the way a ranger would thrive, they possess a certain combination of abilities that make them very adaptable to surviving most any situation they find themselves in.

 

[aco175]

 

[CreamCloud0]

Rangers don't need spells if skills had defined reliable effects.

But there's never been a majority of D&D fans who would agree to that.

i'd like rangers to have magic but not because they need magic to do their rangery things, magic to do extra stuff on top of a reliable skill system.

 

[Charlaquin]

Arguably, the only classes that are truly necessary are fighter and magic user. The question one has to answer is why have more classes? In D&D, the answer is mostly “because a previous edition had it,” and if you follow that chain back far enough, you hit the bedrock of “because someone in Gary and/or Dave’s game wanted to play a media reference that the existing classes didn’t express well.” Clerics exist because the wizard didn’t do a good enough Hammer Horror VanHelsing impression. Rogues exist because the fighter didn’t do a good enough Grey Mouser impression. Paladins exist because fighters and clerics didn’t do a good enough Roland impression. And rangers exist because fighters and rogues didn’t do a good enough Aragorn impression.

Do we still need those classes? Not necessarily. Do they expand the range of characters players can easily express? Yes.

 

[MoonSong]

Not that it has to be a class to be an option.

Yes, but if it takes all of your customization options just to get a generic ranger, it is not much of an option.

 

[niklinna]

Ranger and Rogue fullfill the same niche that I have had legendary game designers argue that Robin Hood is a rogue.

If the paragon of ranger is not your class, it is extraneous.

Rogue now covers the skirmisher concept so I would be okay of folding the ranger abilities into it and the stereotypes as sub classes.

Then again my favorite ranger was the 4e version, because i have always preferred the deepwoods sniper version for my rangers.

So I'm asking.

Is the Ranger a necessary Class?

Necessary—for who and for what?

If you don't want or need a ranger class, then great for you. We're not playing together so I don't need to convince you of anything.

 

[grimmgoose]

I'm looking at the original Ranger as published in The Strategic Review issue 2, where it first appeared.

It's is quite obviously inspired by the character who went by the very name "Ranger"

Expert at tracking, only allowed the gear that can be carried, always Lawful, difficult to surprise, use of clairvoyance devices, gains hobbits as followers.

That might have been the case in the 70s, but near 50 years later, 5E's ranger is not even in the same ballpark as Aragorn. The only similarity is the title "ranger".